Marlins, Delgado shift the power game

 

By GREG COTE

 

Miami Herald

 

 

MIAMI - This is about balance. The Florida Marlins have some now. On Tuesday - instantly, just like that - they took a bat to the notion this is a team that will go only as far as its strong arms can take it.

 

This is about balance of power. Carlos Delgado brings the power. Lots of it. Enough to make him one of baseball's top 10 run producers, one of the game's most consistently prolific home run sluggers.

 

This is about balance of power, shifting. There are "favorites" in baseball less than in any sport. Ask George Steinbrenner, whose record spending annually guarantees him and his Yankees nothing. But the Marlins announced themselves as playoff contenders Tuesday, as a franchise that believes a third World Series added to the 1997 and 2003 trophies is a possible dream.

 

The Marlins looked to be a competitive team as is. Adding Delgado's thunder to the middle of the batting order is a final flourish that makes you wish spring training started now, not in three weeks.

 

It has been a nice run on star power in South Florida, hasn't it?

 

The Heat trading for Shaquille O'Neal gave us a star who exceeds even Dan Marino in terms of national stardom and presence. And Shaq has a budding superstar in Dwyane Wade to nurture.

 

The Dolphins answered an awful season by signing the most coveted available coach, Nick Saban, and now might flirt with trading for brilliant receiver Randy Moss.

 

The Marlins winning the Delgado sweepstakes isn't as seismic as Shaq's arrival or as flat-out noisy as the Dolphs getting lightning-rod Moss would be. But it's close.

 

Delgado will be the greatest slugger to wear teal, surpassing Gary Sheffield. All of the batters around him - Mike Lowell, Miguel Cabrera - just got better in much the same way as The Shaq Effect.

 

Delgado serves another important role in the meantime.

 

He's a symbol. An unmistakable gesture.

 

Owner Jeffrey Loria looks like a man committed to winning.

 

MOVE FORWARD

 

It is time for state government, the folks up in Tallahassee, to show some commitment in return, and give the Marlins the hand they need to get this new baseball stadium built. The club, city of Miami and Miami-Dade County are doing their share. It is the state - with the ball in its hand, and balking - that is imperiling the whole process.

 

The difference in the money committed to building a new ballpark and the total amount needed is, in the big scheme, loose change. A difference - $30 million - is what a good, creative state legislature turns up under the sofa cushion.

 

The Marlins and local government are that (relatively) piddling amount shy of the $420 million needed to construct a retractable-dome stadium and parking garage near the Orange Bowl that will ensure the team's future in South Florida - a future a ll but nonexistent without the new ballpark.

 

Available, with the state's generosity and foresight, is a $60 million sales tax rebate that would get `er done, all neat and tidy.

 

All it requires from Tallahassee is a feel for why the Marlins so desperately need a new park, and an appreciation of how a major pro sports team - such as one that has won two World Series in eight seasons - is a great asset to a state trying to be a place that's big-league in every way.

 

The Marlins' revenue stream is a trickle at Wayne Huizenga's Dolphins Stadium, thanks to one of the worst leases in the majors. There are two major football stadiums down here. Government help has built two professional basketball arenas and a hockey palace. But no baseball stadium. It's time for Tallahassee and the Marlins to get past the rancor and make this happen.

 

It was silly of the Marlins to have that showy, cartoonish dalliance with Las Vegas officials. It was grandstanding. Yet the franchise has every right to explore its last-resort options while the state drags its collective feet.

 

And Marlins brass schmoozing with Vegas officials was no sillier than the overblown reaction to the stunt, with State Senate President Tom Lee labeling the Marlins "terrorists." (Dear President Tom: If only perspective came in pill form, huh?)

 

MARLINS WANT TO STAY

 

I don't buy that the Marlins are loading up to win games in order to force the state to ante up or make the franchise easier to move. A winning team doesn't matter much to a desperate city. Did Washington, D.C., not do civic handsprings to adopt the woeful, orphaned Expos?

 

I think instead the Marlins are giving the state legislature, and fans, every opportunity to be convinced they wish to be here.

 

Heck, the stadium would be built if shortsighted Gov. Jeb Bush had not chosen Opening Day in 2000 to say he would veto a $4-per-passenger cruise ship tax.

 

We can't all choose exactly where our "hard-earned tax money" goes. And I'm tired of anti-tax freaks implying every cent spent on a sports team is money taken from underpaid cops and teachers, or food yanked from a malnourished child.

 

Nothing unites a community - all segments, not just the wealthiest - like a major championship-chasing team.

 

Shaq shines a favorable spotlight on Greater Miami in a way that the director of our public libraries simply cannot. Likewise South Florida is now immediately attractive to lots more folks in Puerto Rico and Latin America, and no tourism ad campaign was needed. Delgado playing for the Marlins does that.

 

Flourishing pro sports are a vital part of what sells our state as big-league, and the Marlins are doing their part. They did again Tuesday.

 

Now it's time for the state to step to the plate.

And I love this exerpt from the Miami Herald

 

Carlos Delgado won't be celebrating his $52 million contract with the Marlins in Europe. Although Marlins owner Jeffrey Loria promised to escort Delgado and his girlfriend on an all-expense-paid trip to France if he signed with the team -- which he agreed Tuesday to do -- the left-handed slugger declined.

 

''I don't want to seem ungrateful, but where am I going to take BP [batting practice] in Paris?'' Delgado asked his agent, David Sloane, after his Jan. 15 get-to-know-you gathering at Joe's Stone Crab with Loria and eight other members of the Marlins organization. ``What I need to do is not go to France and celebrate signing the contract. They're not paying me to look good. They're paying me to come in and produce.''

So who are our stellar "inside sources" that said he was married?

 

 

:lol

Very nice Cote article.

 

Someone should email it to every politician in Tallahassee.

So who are our stellar "inside sources" that said he was married?

 

 

:lol

668350[/snapback]

:lol

 

 

 

I read that article in the paper, absolutely loved it. And I love how Cote is telling the politicos to get off their asses and get the stadium done.

Great article. Cote has done a really good job as of late promotiing the Marlins throughout this effort to sign Delgado.

 

 

And yes, get this stadium deal done!! I'm sick of hearing the BS from people like the Senate president and Fat Hank and everyone else that the Marlins shouldn't get this stadium. GET IT DONE!!

Some choice bits:

 

Owner Jeffrey Loria looks like a man committed to winning.

 

...

 

There are two major football stadiums down here. Government help has built two professional basketball arenas and a hockey palace. But no baseball stadium. It's time for Tallahassee and the Marlins to get past the rancor and make this happen.

 

...

 

The difference in the money committed to building a new ballpark and the total amount needed is, in the big scheme, loose change. A difference - $30 million - is what a good, creative state legislature turns up under the sofa cushion.

 

...

 

We can't all choose exactly where our "hard-earned tax money" goes. And I'm tired of anti-tax freaks implying every cent spent on a sports team is money taken from underpaid cops and teachers, or food yanked from a malnourished child.

Nothing unites a community - all segments, not just the wealthiest - like a major championship-chasing team.

 

 

:thumbup

So who are our stellar "inside sources" that said he was married?

 

 

:lol

668350[/snapback]

 

 

:lol

 

That same source also called this signing two days ago... although I guess it was looking more and more like he wasn't signing with the Mets and Orioles.